I’m really excited about this week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme, which is characters who love reading, are writers, work at a bookstore etc. A few obvious ones spring to mind but I actually found it hard to think of ten characters who can be classified as die hard booknerds but here are a few characters that love to read 🙂 Thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for organising this meme.

(Yes I know there’s a lot of overlap between the characters from the screen and from books)

The eighth and latest season of hit U.S. reality-talent show The Voice has just concluded. The show has proven to be a massive success in America and has been influential in the careers of several artists. Rising country music star Danielle Bradbery got her break when she won the fourth season of the show.

Indeed, Bradbery was the youngest ever winner of The Voice, until this season. Season eight saw sixteen-year-old Sawyer Fredericks beat out the hundreds of other hopefuls to claim the win. Sawyer can now look forward to the $100,000 prize money, and a recording contract with Republic Records.

The teenager has already been making waves during and since the show’s run. Indeed, the Connecticut native has already set iTunes sales records. He looks set to have a huge future ahead of him. The fact Sawyer is so young means his talents will surely only get better over time.

We saw something of a change coming into this new season of the show. Gwen Stefani confirmed she would not return as a coach for season eight. The No Doubt singer was replaced by Christina Aguilera, who returned to The Voice after a two-year absence. She joined Blake Shelton, Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine, and rapper Pharrell Williams.

It was Pharrell who would prove to be the winning coach, as he masterminded Sawyer’s victory. The young singer won the show with a stunning rendition of the original song Please. The song was penned by his idol Ray Lamontagne, and the passion in Sawyer’s voice was evident. The win looks set to catapult the young American to international super-stardom.

Season eight of The Voice has seen the show grow in strength. It has managed to endure where rival shows like The X-Factor failed.. The ratings improved vastly from season seven, and it seems clear the show will endure for a while yet. The (re)addition of Aguilera seems to have been a masterstroke from the producers. Putting such a strong, successful and independent woman in among a group of men has worked wonders.

So, what’s next for The Voice, and indeed for Sawyer Fredericks? Well, the show is pretty formulaic in and of itself, but that seems to work. There’s certainly an audience for the show, and even in its eighth season it shows no sign of decline. It’s safe to say we can expect more of the same in the future. Producers will always be looking to uncover and showcase the next generation of unsigned stars. If nothing else the show provides several hours of entertainment and escapism for its audience.

As for Sawyer Fredericks, well, he’s a young man with the world at his feet now. It’s going to be a pivotal couple of years as he develops his sound and personality. It’s important that the people around him keep him grounded, and that the right decisions are made. Sawyer needs to try to keep hold of mentor Pharrell Williams for as long as possible too.

In a world where popular music careers are often short-lived, it’s vital that Sawyer make the right choices now. If he makes sure he learns to write songs himself he will always have a shot at a successful career. For now the jury is out, and it’s going to be an exciting but busy few years for this new superstar.

Made in Chelsea: London’s answer to The Hills and the ‘classier’ version of The Only Way is Essex. We were all taken in by the glitz and the glam of London’s ‘elite’ when the show first debuted back in 2011, but the question is, why are we still watching it? The show is infamous for its ridiculously long awkward silences that make it glaringly obvious that the show is scripted and that the cast are terrible at acting. But we still come back for more.

Crucial info about season one: Mike Ross, an unemployed young man with an incredible ability to memorise facts, is taken on at law firm Pearson & Hardman, a firm that only hires Harvard Law graduates. Mike didn’t graduate from Harvard, in fact, he didn’t graduate from anywhere but when he accidentally stumbles into the interview room for first years at Pearson & Hardman, he manages to impress the firm’s hot shot lawyer, Harvey Specter, and earns himself a job.

I didn’t think it was possible, but Suits Season 2 is even better than Season 1. Whilst Season 1 focused a lot on the cases and the law suits, Season 2 gets personal. David Hardman (Yeah, Hardman as in ‘Pearson & Hardman’) is back and he means business. Hardman left the firm years ago after he was caught embezzling company money, something Jessica (Pearson) kept quiet as long as he left the firm, but after the death of his wife, he’s back, claiming that he’s a new person. Whilst Harvey and Jessica remain skeptical of this ‘new’ Daniel, the rest of the company seems to have been won over by him and rumours of takeovers start to arise.

Suits season 1 first aired a few years ago now but it has never really interested me. From afar, it looks like your pretty standard law drama but with more charming characters, but I was wrong, because it is so much more than that. Suits follows the stories of Harvey Specter, a top lawyer, and Mike Ross, his associate. Harvey works for Pearson and Hardman, a firm that only hires Harvard Law graduates, but Mike doesn’t have any degree. After stumbling into the Pearson and Hardman associate interviews, Harvey is impressed by Mike’s wit, attention to detail and impressive ability to memorise facts. Harvey decides to take Mike on, knowing that should it come out that Mike didn’t attend Harvard Law, there could be very serious consequences for them both.

You cannot help but love the characters of this show. These characters live in a world where the ability to sweet talk your way out of sticky situations is invaluable so each and every character is witty and charming. The acting is phenomenal from both the main cast and the supporting actors. Each character has a completely different personality and when they’re all brought together, they create this phenomenal piece of television. Obviously, Harvey Specter is the most talked about and most notable character, but the other characters are just as important for making this show work. There are a lot of famous faces in this show, but they’re mixed with a lot of new faces too.

I love that before I watched this show, I had absolutely no idea what words like pro bono and subpoena meant, but now I know a considerable amount of law vocabulary. Granted I had to google these terms as they came up, but if you’re not as curious as I am then you’ll still have no problem understanding what’s going on.

Despite the fact that the cases looked at by these lawyers are often of a very serious nature, I would say that this show is still lighthearted and funny. There is a brilliant balance between the serious and the amusing without being insensitive at all, which is impressive.

Each episode is a standalone story, but there are some threads, usually involving the characters’ personal lives, that run through all the episodes. We get a really good look at Mike’s personal life so you understand quite a bit about his character. In contrast, Harvey’s personal life is pretty elusive for the most part, keeping his character shrouded in a certain air of mystery and the combination of Mike and Harvey makes for an awesome duo. These two could definitely be the new Batman and Robin – but better. So much better. For the most part each episode is simply centered on a new law suit that needs to be looked at, but romance and friendship are also consistent themes.

Everything about this show is cool and suave. From the Harvey Specter’s suits to the opening theme song by Ima Robot, this show and these characters will charm your pants off and you’ll soon be addicted. This show really draws you in and you genuinely start rooting for the characters. I laughed out loud numerous times whilst watching this show, but I also sat back in my seat and gasped.

All in all, this show has everything. Suave characters played by brilliant characters, an engaging storyline, witty dialogue, great camerawork and a snazzy soundtrack. I really could not recommend this series any more.

I haven’t watched too many animes, but I’ve loved those that I have seen. Even though there are often English dubbed episodes available, I still prefer to watch anime with the original Japanese voices because it feels a bit wrong to watch anime with a squeaky American voice over the top. I was looking for a really good anime, with lots of romance but also some sort of other purpose and my friend recommended Sword Art Online to me and I really regret not listening to his advice sooner, because it was awesome!

Story

SAO is basically about Kirito, a teenage boy, who is really into gaming and was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the one thousand beta testers of a new game: Sword Art Online. This game is like pretty much any other video game (it kinda reminds me of Zelda) except you’re plugged into the system via NerveGear which is like a helmet that you put you put on whilst playing and your human body basically turns comatose until you log out of the game. The beta test is really successful so it isn’t long before the game is mass produced and there are ten thousand players plugged into the system (think Matrix). The only problem is, this time they can’t log out. It turns out this isn’t a glitch in the system, but something put in place by the SAO’s creator in order to trap these ten thousand people in a virtual reality. To make matters worse, your prolonged existence in the real world, depends on your ability to stay alive in the virtual reality. When your HP reaches zero in SAO, your real body will also die. The only way to escape SAO is to reach level 100, beating the boss at each level. Still thinking this doesn’t sound so hard? Well, the boss on each level is pretty much impossible to get past, unless you’re Kirito with bags of experience from the beta test. Within a few weeks, thousands of the players have died and those that remain are desperate to reach the top. Instead of partying up with other players, the safer option, Kirito insists on making his way through the game alone, but on his way up he meets Asuna, another pretty damn good player, and from then on their stories are intertwined.

SAO is actually split into two series, there’s a part one and a part two. The paragraph above is a very brief summary of the premise of part one but I can’t really tell you anything about part two without giving away what happens at the end of part one. There is quite a definite divide in between the two series and although part two continues straight on from the end of part one, the two stories are really different and yet really similar at the same time. I suppose the general structure and set up of part two is the same as part one, but as the plot is different and the characters have developed a lot.

Personally, I found the story to be really emotional and I mean genuine emotions and not the sort of emotions induced by a whishy-washy rom-com. I think I cried several times whilst watching SAO because it is really heartbreaking at times. The first half of part one is quite action based and I didn’t find this part as interesting as the second half of part one. However, the first few episodes are very good for setting the story up and introducing different characters. I think this first half was needed to establish that this game was no joke and that the subject matter of this series was actually quite serious. I do not mean to say that this series is serious as it’s actually quite amusing and heartwarming at times, but I think that the creators were really good at mixing the lighthearted material with the fact that all the characters were trapped in a virtual reality where most of them were doomed to die and the balancing of these two things is what made this series so great.

Characters
I think that character development and character relations can be quite weak in animes, but I think it was very much the opposite in SAO. There are many, many characters that come and go, but the two protagonists are Kirito and Asuna. I found the relationship between the pair of the to be absolutely beautiful and it developed at exactly the right pace (no insta-love to be seen – hooray!). There were a few moments where I thought the relationship between some characters was getting a little weird, but these moments were infrequent and pretty inconsequential. (I also think that what I think is weird, probably didn’t seem that weird to Japanese people). Kirito plays a much larger role than Asuna and therefore you can see the relationship between himself and many other characters play out too and those are equally well developed and allow you to see the different sides of Kirito. Unsurprisingly, the characters are all very much affected by their traumatic experiences in SAO and I’m glad the character development reflected this and everything that happened was rather logical, despite the fact that this is a fantasy.

Artwork
I don’t think that the graphics in terms of fluidity of movement and all that jazz was particularly outstanding or noteworthy; however, I do feel that the stills that you could gleam from this series (i.e. screenshotting certain moments) were really beautiful. The characters themselves, the costumes, the scenery etc. is all really intricate and just darn cool. If you’re not going to watch this series, then at least google ‘Sword Art Online’ so you can see for yourself the awesome images which are either really bright and colourful or dark and sinister looking. The way that things look is probably one of my favourite things about this series and I’ll definitely be drawing (make that attempting to draw) a couple of the stills.

OST
I think I listened to the SAO OST before I actually began watching it and that was the final push in getting me to start watching. I believe that the OST of any drama/anime is so important as it really sets the tone of the whole series and the SAO OST complemented the action so perfectly. It wasn’t just the opening and ending tracks that had me hooked, but also the score from the actual episodes, so the background music during fight scenes, romantic scenes etc. The opening/ending tracks actually change half way through when part two starts and I think that perhaps the OST for part two is slightly better, though, all four tracks are excellent. I think I’m going to download the SAO score and play it in the background as I go about life just to make everything seem more dramatic and important because it really was that awesome. Usually I don’t pay much attention to the score as in general the opening and ending theme songs tend to stick out a lot more, but not with SAO. In this case, the score was probably even better than the opening/ending tracks which is quite a rarity.

Conclusion
All in all, this anime has a great plot, great characters, beautiful artwork and an emotional OST – I don’t think it’s done anything wrong. A perfect balance between romance and action is struck in SAO so I think it will appeal to all anime fans, whether male or female. I am completely in love with the OST, in fact I’m listening to it right now; I’ve changed my desktop wallpaper to a shot from SAO and if I ever decide to participate in cosplay, I can tell you now that I’ll be dressing up as Asuna. This series gripped me for all 25 episodes and my interest never waned. Although each episode is only twenty minutes long and yet so much seems to happen in each episode. I thought that the ending of this series could’ve been slightly better, but it was by no means disappointing. I honestly cannot recommend this series enough and if you’ve never watched any anime then SAO would be a great place to start as it mixes a lot of different anime genres together.

Possible spoilers for those who have not seen series one – clickhere for my series one review.

I was told beforehand that this series was a lot less exciting than the first one, but I didn’t believe what anyone else had to say and was fully expecting another ten episodes of pure mind-blowing awesomeness. Unfortunately, it turns out those people had been right and this series was a bit of a let down.VIEW STORY »

To apologise for my prolonged absence – I am back with a giveaway! You could be the lucky winer of a Limited Edition Friends prize pack with two oversized cappuccino mugs and a picture frame just like the one on Monica’s door! Keep reading more information.

Let’s be honest, we’ve all been missing Friends since E4 decided to stop showing it every weekday after school/work. But – never fear! For a Friends giveaway is here! (Rhyming was completely unintentional). To get you all geared up for the release of Friends: The Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set get involved below!

How to get involved:

1. Enter our giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget found at the bottom of this post!

2. 30 Days of Friends: Trivia Challenge! Come back everyday to earn a different Friends character badge, unlock hidden badges, and earn awesome Friends content along the way.

3. Mashup Clip Countdown! Relive all your favorite Friends moments in these fun clips. Each week a new clip will be unlocked. Let your readers know so they come back week after week to check them out!

4. Which Friend Are You Most Like Quiz! Everybody loves the characters of Friends for their distinct and quirky personalities. Chandler’s wit, Monica’s OCD, and Phoebe with her free-spirit. Take this quiz to find out what Friends character you are most like!

[WARNING: Possible spoilers for those who have not yet seen Revenge season 1. You can find my review of season 1 here.]

It doesn’t seem like it’s been a very long time since season 1 of Revenge finished, in fact, it’s only been four months, and yet season 2 is already here.

Season 1 of Revenge was absolutely brilliant and it soon became one of my favourite shows with the perfect mix of action, drama and romance. For those of you that haven’t already seen season 1, Revenge follows the story of Emily Thorn as she tries to exact revenge upon those who wrongly framed her father for an act of terrorism when she was a child. In the explosive (literally) season finale, we saw Victoria Grayson board a plane, with all the evidence clearing her secret lover David Clarke, that blew her (and all the evidence) into smithereens as soon as it was in the air. However, I think we all knew that this couldn’t be the end to Victoria and her nasty tricks, we just didn’t know how they’d spin the story following her ‘death’. Emily and Daniel also ended their engagement, a very pregnant Amanda returns to town just as Emily and Jack are getting it on and it is revealed that Emily’s mother is, in fact, alive. (Drama!)

I really wasn’t looking forward to Glee season 4. There’s always a problem when the characters of a good drama graduate from high school – do you end the show there and leave it short and sweet or do you let it continue for several more seasons as the characters move into college? The likes of 90210 and Gossip Girl opted for the later option, though whether or not this was a good idea is debatable. Sure, they still have huge numbers of viewers and they are both still two of the most popular teen dramas today; however, you cannot deny that the story lines have been regurgitated over and over again to the point where many of the shows’ original viewers have given up on them. I feared that the same would happen to Glee, but at a much faster rate. Glee did not seem like the sort of series that would survive outside the bounds of high school given that the story is basically about the underdogs at high school, but I was very much surprised by this brilliant premiere episode.

Has Rachel found herself a new beau?

Season 4 began with a good punchy kick. We see Rachel in her first dance lesson at NYADA with none other than Kate Hudson starring as her teacher! The fact that we start off with Rachel in NYADA is a clear indicator that she is still going to be a big part of season four which is a huge relief. At the end of series 3 I vowed never to watch glee again should they scrap all the major characters e.g. Rachel, Finn, Kurt etc though the majority of them are still hanging around in one way or another. Both Finn, Mercedes and Santana were missing from the premiere episode though creator Ryan Murphy has reportedly said: ‘they’re all coming back’, so we’ll be seeing them all at some point in the future.

There are some fresh faces that have been added to the New Directions, including Jacob Artist as Puck’s half brother Jake and Melissa Benoist as Marley Rose. Both of these new additions have extraordinary voices that will no doubt bring even better music to Glee season 4. Every single Glee character is different and unique and that hasn’t changed in season 4. We haven’t had the chance to see much of what the new characters are really like, but I’ve seen enough to know that they’ll bring something new to the series to make it even better. There’s also a new hottie in town with Dean Geyer as Brody Weston, a junior who Rachel meets at NYADA. It’s not hard to figure out what’s going to happen there. I’m absolutely loving the addition of Kate Hudson as Rachel’s bad-ass dance teacher. She brings something sexy and dangerous to the show that we’ve never seen before. I suppose she’s supposed to be ‘Sue’ version 2.0, but she’s so much better than that. I’m really looking forward to seeing what her role in the series will be, I just know it’s going to be good!

Saucy Spanish number by Kate Hudson

I’ve decided that Glee is actually the perfect drama in which characters progress into college because this show really is all about growing up and surviving the bitchiness of the education system. Rachel’s little side story over at NYADA is really interesting and adds a new level to the show keeping it moving forward with bigger and better ideas. The season premiere of Glee season 4 was excellent and I am really excited about the rest of the series. I think Glee is definitely moving up on my list of favourite shows and I would recommend that anyone who, like me, was considering not watching this season to rethink! The plot is better, the songs are better, everything is better.